Produce over 2m ounces in 2012https://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=70869&sn=Detail
ANALYSTS’ DAY PRESENTATIONS
Yamana aims to sustain over 2m ounces of annual gold production in 2012
Control of more than 2,120,098 hectares of property in “some of the best mining districts in the Americas” gives Yamana Gold a tremendous boost in its goal to become a 2-million ounce gold producer.
Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Thursday , 16 Oct 2008
RENO, NV -
With seven new projects and expansions underway, Yamana Gold's exploration team aims to sustain the Toronto-based gold company at over 2 million ounces of annual gold production.
In a presentation to analysts Wednesday, Yamana CEO Peter Marrone projected a 38% increase in gold production next year to 1.4 million ounces, and is aiming for a 50% increase between 2009 and 2012 with the ultimate goal of achieving more than 2 million ounces of annual production in 2012.
Marrone added that most of Yamana's 2009-10 production will be based on mines which will all be in production as of the end of this year.
Yamana President Antenor Silva told the analysts that the company has an estimated total expansionary capex of $380 million for 2009 with an increase to $575 million in 2010. Evandro Cintra, senior vice president technical services, said the capex will be used for the seven projects under construction or expansion between now and 2010.
The company's ambition to achieve 2 million ounces of annual sustainable gold production depends on the efforts of Yamana SVP Exploration Darcy Marud, a highly respected geologist who chose to join Yamana after its takeover of Meridian Gold. Marud told analysts that Yamana now controls "over 2 million hectares of property in some of the best mining districts in the Americas."
Those districts now also include Columbia for the first time this year, he added.
Marud's top-ranked exploration project is Meridian's former star gold mine, El Peñon in Chile, for which $8 million is being invested in exploration this year and $12 million is planned for next year's program. Of that $3.5 million is allocated for infill drilling. The objective is to achieve an average annual production of 600,000 gold equivalent ounces at El Penon, which is expected to yield from 460,000 to 470,000 GEO this year.
Second on the list of exploration priorities is the Pilar project is Brazil for which $5 million is being allocated for exploration next year. Marud said Pilar was poorly explored by companies in the past with a combined total of only 5,000 meters of exploration drilling. AngloGold-Ashanti and Kinross' 4 million-ounce Crixas orebody is nearby.
A better understanding of the geological model at the Chapada copper and gold mine in Brazil (Yamana's largest property) is yielding more results placing it in the top four of Marud's priorities, along with the Mercedes exploration program in northern Sonora in Mexico.
Evandro Cintra, SVP Technical Service, said Mercedes has been targeted for a one-million ounce resource yielding 130,000 ounces in gold production in 2012. A feasibility study is expected to be completed at the end of this year with permitting and construction slated for mid-2009.
Meanwhile, Silva told analysts that Yamana has an estimated copper hedge of 65 million pounds at $2.98/lb for 2009 and 36 million pounds at $2.68/lb estimated for 2010.